


Animal Shelter AU

by Vanillybean



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Animal Shelter, F/M, Fuck Sam, Kittens, Paulkins - Freeform, charlotte is a bean and deserves better, sam still has no rights, she plays coolmath, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:40:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23880199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanillybean/pseuds/Vanillybean
Summary: @thecrabbybarista on tumblr had a fantastic idea for a fluffy shelter au for paul and emma and it was really just too cute to not write.Paul helps Charlotte pick out a cat, but he wasn't expecting to find something for himself there - the cute girl behind the counter.
Relationships: Paul Matthews & Emma Perkins, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Comments: 10
Kudos: 48





	Animal Shelter AU

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the groupchat](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=the+groupchat).



> this was supposed to be a oneshot, but much like a victorian author i'm a dumb bitch and never get to the point so it was kinda long. There were also italicized words but they showed up like normal and wouldn’t let me change it, so I’m sorry about that kids

Charlotte stood at the kitchen sink, absentmindedly scrubbing plate when she heard Sam’s key turn in the front door lock. Her face lit up as she shut the water off and forgot all about dishes as she bounded to the front hallway to greet him. Sam was home! Early this time!

She could barely wait for him to open the door on his own, instead she flicked the lock herself and eagerly flung the door open, Sam’s key still dangling in the lock. Charlotte beamed up at him, “you’re home! I made dinner, Sam, it’s on the stove and- Sam?” she cut herself off as he slammed the door and brushed straight past her.

“Sam? Sweetheart I’m talking to you,” she tried.

Sam ignored his wife as he kept walking away, through the house and into the bedroom. Charlotte heard another door slam and felt her heart sink at the same moment. God, why did he have to be like this? What did she even do wrong? 

She felt a soft tuft of fur paint her shin and looked down to see her cat. She picked her up and whispered to her “Mrs. Kitty, you’d never walk away from me, right? No, you wouldn’t! You’re a good kitty.”

~

“Charlotte?” Paul peered over at his coworker. Even though it was time to leave for the day, she didn’t look like she was going anywhere. Leaning over the desk, chin in her palm, eyes pinned to her screen, Paul could see she’d been like this a while. “Working late again?”

Eyes still glued to the screen, she slowly turned her head towards him before finally looking at him fully. “Oh! Yes, yes, just so much to catch up on, you know?”

“Charlotte you already finished your work for the day, remember?”

“Yeah, for today! That doesn’t mean I have to sit around and wait to do tomorrow’s work tomorrow!”

Paul rested a hand on the back of her chair and squinted at her computer. “Charlotte what’s that tab right there?” he pointed at a google tab on the very far right, the one her mouse eagerly hovered over.

“Oh just the reports, I like to keep them open.”

“Your reports, on...google.”

“...yes.”

Paul had enough and clicked the tab open, immediately greeted by a dark display, accented by neon colors. He sighed. “Charlotte, why are you playing cool math games? Come on Char, why not just go home?”

Charlotte huffed, but closed the whole window and shut her computer off. “You’re right, it’s silly. It’s just, gosh.” she paused. “I thought counseling was working out! I thought we were gonna be fine, like when we were first married. But ugh, Sam’s just been so distant and angry lately. I don’t want to deal with it.”

Paul re-positioned his hand from her chair to now be firmly on her shoulder. “That’s not silly, Charlotte. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

She thought for a moment, clearly unsure about how he would react to her next question. “Well,” she started. “You know my cat?”

“Yeah, Mrs. Kitty.” Where was this going?

“It’s just, I thought since I’ve been working late so much - or, just here so much - that she might be lonely. Sam’s sure not giving her attention. So I was thinking about maybe getting her a friend! Would you come with me to the shelter tomorrow to pick out another cat?” that last part was filled with so much hope, how could he say no?  
“Sure Charlotte! What time?”

“Oh, just when we get off work. Nothing crazy.” she gasped, now wide eyed. “Hey, it’s only 5 o’clock! I guess I’m not staying late today, can we do it now?”

“Yeah, that works for me.” Which was true, he didn’t want to disappoint her and it wasn’t like frozen pizza and Maury couldn’t wait an hour or two. The look on her face was worth it, he liked to see his friends happy and Charlotte just looked so down lately. But now she was beaming.

“Oh this is so exciting! Come on, let’s go!” she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward Mr. Davidson’s office. “Bye Mr. Davidson, we’re leaving!” then straight toward the elevator. Everyone else had already left by now, as it was about 10 after 5, so the ride down was smooth and uninterrupted. “I can’t believe I’m gonna get another cat! Oh, Mrs. Kitty is gonna have a friend, I can’t believe it. You know, Sam is more of a dog person but he barely notices the one cat, he won’t mind another.”

The elevator dinged open and they split into their respective cars. “Ok Paul, it’s the shelter by the taco bell! On the other side of the bank! Meet me there!” She pulled out of her parking space so fast that Paul was sure she’d broken some laws in the span of a few seconds.

~  
Charlotte burst through the door of Hatchetfield Animal Shelter & Rescue with Paul trailing awkwardly behind her. She pointed to the rows of cats and looked to Paul excitedly. “Look! There they are!” They started to head over that way when a voice caught their attention.

“Are you two looking for a pet?” A woman in a shelter uniform stood up from where she was crouched feeding the bunnies and turned towards the two.

Paul took one look at her and was immediately flustered. “We’re not together, well we came together, here, we’re not separate customers, but we’re not together together. If that makes sense.” he pinched the bridge of his nose, realizing that this wasn’t important for her to know and now he just looked like a fool. “I’m just helping her pick out a cat,” he settled on.

The woman chuckled. My god, Paul thought, that’s the cutest laugh I’ve ever heard. “Gotcha, good to know. Well, I’m Emma, if you have any questions about the animals or want to play with one just come find me, I’d be happy to help.” She winked at Paul before swiftly turning to answer the ringing phone at the front desk.

Charlotte nudged Paul with her elbow. “You’re more smitten than a kitten, mister!” she teased. “Why not ask her out?”

“Wha-are you crazy? Ask her out? How would I even go about that, just waltz up to the desk and get her number? Right.”

“I’m just sayin’, she’s cute!”

Paul glanced over at Emma as she smiled into the phone, taking down some notes. Yeah, she was really freaking cute. “It’s not like she’d like me, don’t worry about it.” Desperate to change the subject, he added “hey how about this one?” and pointed at a small orange kitten, happily batting around a ball with its siblings.

“No, no, don’t get me wrong. He is a cutie, I just don’t want to separate them. They look like friends.”

Paul made a mental note to only look for single cats, when Emma’s voice broke through his thoughts as she slammed the phone down.

“Hey guys, are you gonna be okay here alone for a bit? I’ll be back in 5 minutes, we’ve got an animal coming that’s in critical condition.” She hurried toward the back door. “5 minutes! Be good, try not to need me!”

Paul watched her go as she disappeared through the backway.

“What’s wrong, Paul? Miss her?”

“...Let’s just look at the cats.”

~~~

A few minutes later, Charlotte and Paul exhausted the whole section of cats. They were all cute, sure, but none of them were just right for Charlotte. None of them made a connection, and if they did, there was a sign in the window claiming that they had already been adopted. She was starting to lose hope of getting a pet when Emma burst through the door, a towel wrapped securely in her arms.

“What’s up guys? Wanna come see what the team rescued?” Too excited to wait for them to come to her, she eagerly shuffled over to the two and unfolded the fuzzy towel just a little bit.

Charlotte’s eyes widened as her eyes settled on the small, brown kitten, curled up, eyes closed and absolutely precious. “Paul,” she whispered to him, “that’s the one! It’s perfect!”

Emma heard the enthusiasm in her voice. “We have to give him some more shots and clean him up a bit more, but on Friday he’ll be ready to go to his forever home. Should I put your name down?”

Charlotte was practically bouncing up and down. “Oh yes! Will you, please! My name is Charlotte Brown.”

“Sure thing, Miss Brown.” Emma made her way back to the desk to jot down Charlotte’s name. “Alrighty, come back Friday and you can adopt him! Make sure if you don’t see me to ask for me, and I can help you out, okay?”

“Thank you, miss!” she grabbed Paul’s arm and dragged him toward the door. “Come on! The sooner we leave, the sooner tomorrow will come, then the sooner Friday will be here! Let’s go!”

Paul waved a hand at Emma, “thanks for your help, Emma, we’ll be back.”

“Hold on!” she shouted after him. “I didn’t get your name, sir.”

“Oh, I’m not adopting-”

“I know,” she winked.

Paul was afraid his heart was going to beat right out of his chest. “I-um, Paul! It’s Paul,” he barely got the words out as Charlotte dragged him out the door, but as he looked back he saw Emma grinning at him.

~~~

Friday finally came, and Charlotte was barely able to focus at work all day. Thoughts of the little kitten clouded her brain, so much so that Mr. Davidson had to call her in to his office and remind her to stay on track.

During their lunch break, Paul took the opportunity to ask Charlotte what’s been on his mind since they went to the shelter. “Hey, Charlotte, um.” God, she was gonna tease him so hard for this. “Could I come with you to the shelter today? When you get your cat?”

“Of course, Paul! I kind of figured you’d come anyway, oh this’ll be so fun! Hey is this because of that-”

“You guys are going to the animal shelter?” shit. Ted.

“Yeah Ted, Charlotte’s getting a cat.” Paul hoped this was enough to get his coworker off his back, but it wasn’t gonna be that easy.

“Uh huh, uh huh. Are you sure it doesn’t have anything to do with that, cute little, shelter worker, over there? Hm?”

“That’s not the reason.”

“Yeah, you know, the spaniel damsel.”

“Bye Ted, I’ll see you Monday.” Paul quickly sped off back to his desk, ignoring the soft laughter coming from Charlotte and Ted.

~~~

5 o’clock finally came and Charlotte and Paul made it to the animal shelter, both excited but for different reasons. They rocked up to the big, windowed green double doors and each eagerly pulled one open.

Much to Paul’s disappointment, the woman at the counter was frustrated, tired, mean-looking, and not Emma.

“Excuse me, miss,” he started. She looked up at him, annoyed. He shuddered but continued, “there was a girl here last time that helped us? She said to ask for her when we came back in.”

“Uh sir, there’s been like 7 people working here this week, could you be more specific? Maybe a name?”

Oh no, he thought. Shoot shoot shoot, what was her name? I just had it like 2 seconds ago, shit. Oh god I look like a fool. “Um, she has brown hair and like, a nice nose - not that your nose isn’t nice, it’s lovely - it was just a cute nose, um, brown eyes and-” Charlotte had enough of this.

“Her name is Emma, lovely young lady,” she interrupted.

A familiar voice emerged from around the corner. “Did somebody miss me?”

Paul’s face flushed with embarrassment. “Emma! Hey.”

“Hey Paul,” she smiled. “Oh, I have the kitten over here for you, Miss Brown. Come, come.” She led them to the rows of glass crates that held the cats, and to the very back was one small brown kitten with a sign on the window, not currently available. Emma proudly pointed at the sign. “I made it myself, see the little heart?” sure enough, there was a little heart with a smiley face in the middle, right in the top corner of the page. Just when Paul thought she couldn’t get any cuter. “Wait here.” She disappeared around the corner and came back into view behind the crate, unlocking the door. She brought the kitten out and motioned to follow her.

Up at the front desk, she whispered something to her coworker and carefully set the kitten on the wide marble counter. The coworker started talking with Charlotte to officially let her adopt the cat, and Emma pulled Paul aside.

“Hey Paul, so, are you gonna come back anytime soon? Maybe for a pet of your own?” She looked up at him, eyes full of hope, trying not to bite her lip. Please say yes, please please please.

Paul was momentarily speechless. She wants him to come back? “Um, I’m not looking for a pet but I’d love to come back and visit you. If that’s okay!” he added the last part quickly, making sure he wasn’t pressuring her or anything.

To his surprise, Emma grabbed his hand, pulled out a pen, and wrote a number down on his palm. “Don’t let me find out I wrote my number down for nothing. Give me a call, alright?”

Paul seriously hoped she couldn’t feel how sweaty his hands were now, because she was still holding on tight, and oh god why was she still holding his hand?

“Yeah no for sure. I uh, I won’t let it go to waste, Emma,” he said, trying so hard to not let his voice crack.

“You’d better not.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't sure where to include this, but Charlotte named her cat Nacho if you were wondering.
> 
> Also!! Comments make my frickin week, I love hearing what you guys have to say so don’t hesitate to say anything (constructive criticism? I love her) ANYWAY you’ve made it this far, I hope you liked it and I love you 💕


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